Carly (0:00)

Welcome to the Dear Dragon Readers Series segment of Dear Fantasy Reader Podcast. These episodes were originally part of the Dragon Readers Podcast, but we have since merged. My name is Carly and in each of these episodes we dive deep into a single topic from the Empyrean series. Please note this podcast will have spoilers for Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Do not listen if you have not read these books in their entirety and there's also a content warning for language and adult themes. Today's episode is going to be all things Zaden's signet and the Marked Ones relics, and I think these relics are going to tell us why the runes were banned around 200 au. And if you're not familiar on my bookstagram bookishisbetter, there is a timeline for fourth wing that breaks down everything that has happened in the history of Navarre, starting a thousand years before unification and then coming up to current day through the end of Iron Flame. When I say we're going to be deep diving Zaden's signet, I do not mean his first signet or his second signet. I believe Zaden has a third signet tied to his Rebellion Relic that he does not know that he has. And to be clear, because it's tied to his Rebellion Relic, I don't know that it would actually be considered a signet. However, just to keep it easy, I'm going to refer to these Rebellion Relic abilities as signets because I think they function similarly to signets. I am fairly confident that all of the Marked Ones, including Zaden, have a signet like ability tied to their relic that they may or may not be aware of. At the end of Fourth Wing, Violet sees Liam wielding spears of ice and this is odd because Liam's signet is farsight. There are a few ways of explaining how this could happen. The first one would be that it's an editing mistake. It could simply be that, but however, Liam's dragon's name means ice and so I find it odd that he would be wielding spears of ice and his dragon's name means Ice and that that's a mistake. However, I will say a few people have said that Rebecca Yarrow said in an interview that his original signet was Ice and that they changed it to Farsight and that this was just a mistake. However, I've had people tell me this, but I cannot find the interview. I have searched high and low for this interview. I have listened to hours and hours and hours of Rebecca Yarrow's interviews at this point and I have not found this. Another explanation for it would be that it's a feathertail gift. Terne says that most feathertail gifts disappear with maturity, but he does not say all. So it's possible that his dragon has a remnant of its feathertail gift and and was sharing it with Liam, and that's how he could wield ice. The other possibility would be that Liam, also, like Zaden, bonded a dragon in his direct familial line. However, we do know that that is banned and Sigale got away with it because the writer of record for Zaden was believed to be his great uncle, not his grandfather. And I would find it odd if this happened in both of these scenarios. And I do want to be clear about this, because it is a very popular theory out there that Liam bonded a dragon in his direct familial line. However, this theory has somehow become canon in the Fourth Wing fandom. And it is not canon. It is just a theory. That is how people explain Sloane knowing about the fact that if a dragon bonds someone in the direct familial line, that they will have two signets. But we do not know for sure how Sloane knew that. It's just a theory that's out there. It is not canon. And the only other possible explanation I can think of is that it is somehow tied to his relic. We know that the relics that the dragons give their riders is the conduit for the magic. It's what allows the rider to channel and to have a signet ability. And I find it interesting that they use the same word, relic to describe what was left on the marked ones after their parents were executed. And while the official story from Navarre is that the relic was left by the dragon who executed their parents, we actually know that it activated the rune that their parents gave them to protect them from the rider signet that executed them. And this is where I want to start getting into Xaden's relic. Because it is different than the others. Violet notices almost instantly how Zaden's relic, unlike the others, goes up his neck, almost brushing his jaw. Zaden tells Violet that his rune was designed to protect someone of his father's bloodline. However, Bodhi is also of his father's bloodline. And I think that's why Zaden's relic goes so much further up his arm and neck than the others, is because his was activated not only by his father's death, but also by his aunts. And I also believe that one of the reasons why Zaden detests Lilith so much, the reason why he calls her a Monster is because she was involved in the execution of his dad. And I don't just mean bringing him to his execution. I believe they allowed Lilith's dragon to participate in the actual execution of Fen. And this is important because I believe Zaden has a third signet like ability tied to his relic that is storm wielding. And before you write this off as a tinfoil hat wearing level conspiracy theory, let me try to convince you. When I was reading Iron Flame, the storms in it were so prevalent that I actually started to think Violet might be a storm wielder, which I thought was odd because her first signet was lightning. And it kind of seemed like a signet ability to have just to make her first signet more powerful. This is important because I think if Zaden is going to have a third signet like ability, whatever it is, would have to also make Violet more powerful to keep them in balance with each other. However, I remembered that in Fourth Wing there is that very odd storm that happens when Violet is on parapet. The conditions that day are already stormy. It is cloudy, it is windy. However, once Zaden sets eyes on Violet, it starts raining. And the second she actually steps fully on parapet, it starts pouring. And as soon as she gets off parapet, it stops raining. There's even foreshadowing for this. As soon as Violet gets off parapet, her own internal monologue says, the rain eases into a drizzle as if it had only come to make the hardest test of my life even harder. And in this moment, Zaden is absolutely furious. And so I think he was able to amplify the storm conditions unknowingly in that moment. I want to point out that the moment at the Viscount's mirrors this almost exactly. There are stormy like conditions. However, it is not actually raining until that Venon pops out of the chest. And in that moment, Zaden is furious at the Viscount for putting Violet in this position. And as soon as she steps off that field, the rain stops. But this is not where the connection to Zaden and the storms ends. Not by a long shot. When Violet finally calls Aiden out for having a second signet. But they get interrupted and have to go outside. All of a sudden a storm is rolling in. Right when Zaden is so internally conflicted over everything going on with Violet, he is both angry and terrified. In this moment. And in Iron Flame, when Zaden is delayed returning to Basgaeth because his commander wouldn't let him leave, he is furious. And Violet notes that she sees a storm rolling in towards Bazga as Zaden is finally making his way towards her. And while I am confident that Zaden is a storm wielder and simply does not know it, I want to point out one other possibility for his third signet like ability. There is that moment in Iron Flame when Violet tells her squad that the moment Zaden returns home, she is going to have to tell him about how to fix the wards. And then the next scene, she wakes up in the middle of the night and Zaden is in bed beside her. But then she goes back to sleep. And the next scene, Zaden is gone on a mission and he returns back and they reunite in the flight field. Everyone thinks this moment is so odd. They want to know how Xaden was in her bed when he was supposed to be gone on a mission. I have talked about a couple explanations for this, but the last final explanation I have for this is that potentially Zaden is a distance wielder. Most people use this to point to the fact that they think Violet is a distance wielder. And I just don't think there is a lot of evidence for it other than this moment. But I think it's possible Zaden is a distance wielder and he just doesn't know it. And I want to point out that I do not believe Xaden knows that he has this ability. I think it's possible that the other marked ones know that they have some sort of second signet like ability. Not all of them, but some of them. Because the only time we see it actually pouring down rain is when there was already storm like conditions. And then Zaden becomes furious and then all of a sudden it's pouring. So I think in these moments he is just amplifying the storm that is already there. And the one time we see Liam wielding ice is when he is outside the wards where magic is more wild. And so I am wondering how long he knew he was an ice wielder. If it is something that is easier to realize when you are outside the wards. And I think if it's true that runes can be used to to give people these signet like abilities. I think this is why the runes were banned around 200 au. This is just too much power to give somebody not only the ability potentially to just give themselves unlimited signets, but to maybe even be able to control what the signets are. Let's not forget what we're taught about runes. In Iron Flame it says a rune is only limited to how much power you choose to temper, how long you want it to last, and how many uses it has before it depletes. So, given this information, I am wondering if the marked one's relics are eventually going to stop working and whether or not they will be able to know until it is too late. Perhaps they will think they are being blocked from General Melgren Signet, when in fact they are no longer being blocked from General Melgren Signet. And I want to end this episode chatting about Garak for a minute because we still do not know what his signet ability is. But I do think it's possible that we have a few more clues than we realize we do. At the end of Fourth Wing, when Violet realizes that Dain read her memory, she is consumed with guilt for what is about to happen. She completely blames herself. And this is all an internal monologue. And Garak looks at her and says, that's not. And then cuts himself off. Like he is realizing that he should not be commenting on this because he shouldn't know it. Additionally, in that moment, Zaden is reading the missive that is left for them by Aetos. Now, Garak found this missive and handed it to Zaden. However, he has not read it yet, because in a moment Zaden's going to hand him the missive to read. And Zaden sums up the missive by saying that they have been left there to die. And that is not exactly what that missive says. So he could be saying that's not both to Zaden or Violet. However, he shouldn't really know either. So it's possible that either he has the ability to sense emotions or maybe look through things, see through things. Maybe he was able to see through the missive still all folded up and read it. I want to point out that there's another moment that points to Garak potentially being able to read emotions. There is a moment in a bonus chapter where Zaden tells Garak that he hates how observant he is. Now, I put the call out to my bookstagram to see what everybody else thought Garak's signet was, and I thought I would share some of them with you because there are some really good ones in here. Someone pointed out that perhaps Garak is some sort of metallurgist, which we have already seen. But there is that moment in Fourth Wing when Xaden gets those daggers specially made for Violet, and he says that he knows someone, essentially. What if it was Garruk? What if Garruk can make weapons? Benjamin sent me that one and I thought it was such a great catch I had to include it the other One that I really love finds a tie between Garruk and the Norse God Odin. Odin is sensitive to runes, just like Garruk's dragon. And so Odin's abilities are superhuman strength, weapon never missing, and storm wielding. However, I do think Garrick, if anyone's a storm wielder, it's definitely going to be Zaden. So I think it's very possible that superhuman strength or his weapon never missing could definitely be Garruk's signet. Shout out to Katie for sending me that one. I think it's absolutely genius. Another really popular one that was sent to me multiple times was distance wielding. However, I think if Garrick is going to be a distance wielder, he doesn't know it yet. And this might be tied to his relic ability, because Zaden tells Violet and Iron Flame that he's not a distance wielder, that essentially no one is, that there hasn't been one in century. And I don't think he would lie to her about that when he doesn't need to. He could have just said he's not a distance wielder. So I'm not personally leaning towards that just because I don't think Satan would lie about that so unnecessarily, but it's possible it could be tied to his relicability. And because Garak's dragon's name means pain, and by the way, I've also seen that it actually translates closer to torment or that it also translates as torment, and I'm not sure on that. But universally, I see a lot of theories around Garrick Signet having something to do with pain, whether it is to cause pain or to not be able to feel pain or block pain. I also want to point out that on a panel, Rebecca Yarros was asked who she would want with her if she was stuck on a desert island. And she immediately, without hesitation, said Garrick. And so a lot of people believe that his signet ability will have something to do with something that would be useful on a desert island. And the best theory I have on this is that Garruk's role for Zaden is communicating his orders. And so I think it would be interesting if his signet had something to do with communication, especially over long distances, especially if he could communicate directly, like into people's minds. I could see that being useful because you could tell somebody that you're stuck on a desert island far away. But I think this is also why people point to distance wielding. But again, I just don't think that will work. At least not as his first signet. Okay, so that's going to wrap up this week's episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you want to discuss anything regarding Fourth Wing or Iron Flame, you can find me on my bookstagram ookishisbetter. Thank you so much to everyone who rated and reviewed the podcast. It really does help and if you haven't subscribed to the podcast, that is also really helpful. Next week we will be back with a deep dive on the Venin.